“The government gives these numbers to look like it’s in control … We know they are lies. Thousands died and will never be found.” -rescue volunteer

That is not true for the tens of thousands of people who were caught by Fuego volcano’s recent eruption. On Sunday June 3, El Fuego turned violent, spewing columns of fire, ash and rocks – pyroclastic flows that billowed up some 15,000 feet before raining over the region.

Skeleton remains found buried at a house during a search are pictured at an area affected by the eruption of the Fuego volcano at El Rodeo in Escuintla, Guatemala June 6, 2018. Photo by Fabricio Alonzo/Reuters

Guatemala’s 2012 population census was cancelled for political reasons, so the last exhaustive door-to-door national census was conducted in 2002. That means population data from the affected areas is almost two decades old.

In our interviews with victims of the Fuego eruption and the volunteers helping them, several people have complained that the Guatemalan government is reporting information they know to be inaccurate.

It estimates that 12,823 people were evacuated and 3,613 people placed in shelters. Weeks after the eruption, the official death toll remains at 110. Local residents insist it is much higher.

Eufemia Garcia, 48, who lost 50 members of her family during the eruption of the Fuego volcano, rests holding a shovel while searching for her family in San Miguel Los Lotes in Escuintla, Guatemala, June 15, 2018. Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters

“The government gives these numbers to look like it’s in control,” one rescue volunteer told us. “We know they are lies. Thousands died and will never be found.”

Since the eruption, rain has regularly fallen across Guatemala, hardening the volcanic ash into something resembling concrete. Unless the government sends dozens of workers with heavy equipment, bodies will likely remain entombed where they fell.

A fumbled rescue effort

The lack of up-to-date population information has made it even harder for Guatemala’s cash-strapped government to plan an effective, coordinated rescue and recovery mission.

Considering that simply repairing the 10.5 miles of national highway RN14 destroyed in the eruption is estimated to cost $30 million, many Guatemalans say this budget is clearly insufficient.

Officially, the government’s disaster reduction agency is charged with coordinating evacuation, cleanup efforts and providing supplies to victims during any national emergency. National police officers and soldiers are now in place to guard the disaster zone to keep survivors and rescue workers out of the eruption zone.

Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales (C) arrives to the National Coordinator of Disaster Reduction to address the media following an earthquake, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, June 14, 2017. Photo by Luis Echeverria/Reuters

Now, the Guatemalan press is skewering him for his ineptitude in responding to this national disaster.

Local response

People did not wait for the Guatemalan government to help after Fuego exploded.

On the Sunday of the eruption, La Merced Church, in Antigua – which was not affected by the volcano – rang its bells, calling parishioners to help the priests who were already loading trucks of supplies to help the victims. Church officials tell us they have sent an average of four trucks daily to shelters, full of collected food, clothing, medicine and other items.

Hangars at La Aurora International Airport, in Guatemala City, have become temporary storage for relief goods pouring in from private donors around the country. It is one of 21 donation centers where hundreds of volunteers bag and label food, clothing, medication, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene items. They are then driven to affected areas.

“The media will soon move on to something else, people here will grow weary and the government won’t do what it needs to do,” explained one woman receiving donations. “So we’re collecting anything and everything that is given and saving it for later.”

A delegation of volunteers lead by firemen from Antigua are making regular 34-mile trips to the ash-covered village of Paraíso El Xab, where people are now contending with poor air quality, water contamination and damage to crops. Eswin Cabrera, president of the town’s Community Council Development Organization, says unripened coffee beans will soon begin to rot.

On June 17, Guatemala suspended its search for bodies and survivors. Local rescue workers, however, continue their grueling efforts.

Walter E. Little is a professor of anthropology at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Kerstin Sabene, a photojournalist currently based in Guatemala, also contributed to this article. This article by The Conversation was republished with permission. Read the original here.

Left:
Walter Amilcar Garcia, 42, reacts as he visits his damaged house after the eruption of the Fuego volcano at El Rodeo in Escuintla, Guatemala June 6, 2018. Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters